1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a structure of a front pillar for a vehicle, and more particularly, to a structure of a hybrid front pillar, which is capable of reducing a weight of the front pillar and a number of components by utilizing aluminum die casting, aluminum extrusion, or CFRP, and which can increase rigidity, for example, to withstand damage in a small overlap collision test, by utilizing a mutual insertion structure and a mechanical connection method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a vehicle is broadly divided into a vehicle body and a chassis. The vehicle body refers to a portion that defines an external shape of the vehicle, and the chassis refers to a portion in which mechanical devices, which are required to drive the vehicle, are installed.
Pillars, which support front doors and rear doors, define the entire shape of the vehicle body, and maintain rigidity of lateral side portions of the vehicle body, are fastened at outer peripheral portions of the front doors and the rear doors which are disposed at both sides of the vehicle body.
The pillars are broadly divided into a front pillar which abuts on a rear end of an engine room at a front side of the vehicle body, and is disposed in a front and rear direction of the vehicle while being inclined at a predetermined angle so as to support the front door, a center pillar which is disposed in an up and down direction between the front door and the rear door, and supports the front door, the rear door, and lateral portions of the vehicle body which are opened by the doors, and a rear pillar which is coupled to a rear end of the rear door, and supports the rear door and a rear side of the vehicle body.
In particular, to promote safety of vehicle occupants, research has been conducted on reinforcing lateral portions of the vehicle body which are relatively vulnerable to external impact, and research also has been conducted to improve rigidity of the vehicle body for purposes of a small overlap collision test that is carried out by allowing 25% of a front portion of the vehicle body of the vehicle, which travels at a predetermined or higher speed, to collide with a stationary obstacle.
FIG. 1 (RELATED ART) is a view of a structure of a front pillar for a vehicle in the related art when viewed from the outside of the vehicle body.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the front pillar in the related art includes a front pillar lower portion 1 disposed at a front side of a front door unit 4 of the vehicle, and a front pillar upper portion 2 disposed at an upper side of the front pillar lower portion 1, and supports the front door unit.
However, in the case of the front pillar in the related art, a plurality of reinforcing components 3 is coupled to the front pillar in order to improve rigidity of the lateral side portion of the vehicle, particularly, for purposes of a small overlap collision test, and as a result, there are problems in that the overall number of components and a weight of the vehicle body are increased.
In the case of the front pillar in the related art, both of the front pillar lower portion 1 and the front pillar upper portion 2 are made of a steel plate and are connected to each other by being bonded by simple matching, and as a result, there is a problem in that connectivity deteriorates.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention, and therefore it should not be understood that the above information is regarded as being the prior art that has been already known to those skilled in the art.